As many as 90 households of Atkarwadi village in the foothills of Sinhagad fort who were earlier deprived of ration supply as the public distribution system shop was in Morwadi,a village on the other side of the fort,will now get their ration,thanks to efforts of women members of self-help groups. The ration will now be delivered to 25 below-poverty-line households after a public hearing held by district supply officer Ravindra Kulkarni in the village. Our village was facing a great difficulty in getting the rations. Our bachat gat (self-help group) took out morchas,held dharnas and even did a rasta roko for our demands to reach government,but with no result, says Parvati Bhondekar,a villager and member of Unnati self-help group. A few years ago,as a response to a Supreme Court interim judgment,two commissioners were appointed by the central government to keep a watch on the implementation of various food security schemes run by the government. These commissioners had state-wise observers working under them and also district-level observers too. Malhari Naykodi,one of the observer for Pune district,says,It can be cited as a unique way of womens empowerment. The questions about regularity,quality and transparency in the PDS were asked by the women themselves. The government authorities had to look into it. Bhondekar says their sustained efforts gave the results. A jana sunwai (public hearing) was held a week ago and the district supply officer attended it. This was happening for the first time. He has promised us regular ration supply now. The ration will be directly delivered to the below-poverty-line families in our village. Subhadra Khamkar,another villager,says,We have got our first lot of the ration and the quality of some of the items is bad. We will continue our fight for good quality food. Swati Chavan,a member of a group named Rachana that has played the role of a catalyst in this activity says,We as a group are not going to be there with the villagers for good. Thus,our basic motive of the work is conscientisation of the people. There are many good food security schemes for the poor rural population. What is needed is a fillip from the villagers for their efficient implementation. The scheme of home delivery of ration to BPL families was first implemented in Nashik and it is now being replicated in various districts of Maharashtra.
